From the Science Department

The Science Department used last week’s World Book Day as a warm up for Science Week, which starts today and runs through until next Friday (17 March).

Members of the department dressed up as detectives ready for our theme of Forensic Science which will also support Arts Week and the play Emil and the Detectives.

Keep following the Science Department Twitter account next week, and you will see plenty of photos of all the exciting activities taking place in lessons.

We will also have our annual egg hatching event taking place.

From the Maths Department

Pi day is coming back to Beechwood and we are so excited – watch this video to get in the mood for Pi

This Week in Year 3

English

Year 3 are in the midst of their English unit on dragons, and the excellent progress they have made in their writing this term is clear to see in their work which now adorns our new display boards in the Year 3 corridor.

This week we have temporarily moved the focus of our work away from dragons and instead have been honing our grammar skills. We have been practising everything from the use of conjunctions to subordinate clauses, complex punctuation and the use of exciting vocabulary.

Year 3 pupils have risen to the challenge and know how to bring their writing to the next level. We look forward to continuing our dragon unit next week as we delve into report writing.

Science

In our Science lessons, we have been learning all about different types of rock.

The children have all really enjoyed carrying out experiments testing the durability, buoyancy and permeability of different rocks. We have been acting out sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks too. Fossils have been a particular favourite! We enjoyed learning about the fossilisation process.

International Women’s Day

On Wednesday 8th March it was International Women’s Day and Year 3 celebrated this by identifying important women in their lives.

They wrote personal letters to these women, explaining their significance in each of their lives and thanked them for all they do. See a few of the brilliant examples below:

International Womens Day examples 3D

Have a lovely weekend!

The Year 3 Team

House Music Composition Competition

Year 3 have been busy composing music, inspired by travel. They have used class instruments including glockenspiels, xylophones, hand percussion as well as pianos and the pupils’ own instruments. Mrs Lodge and Mrs Jarvis have a huge job going through the entries this weekend. Results will be announced next Friday – good luck!

This Week in Year 4

World Book Day

Year 4 and their teachers all looked amazing dressed up as characters from books last Thursday. We had a great day which started with a Kahoots Quiz which 4R won! Then during the day we had to Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) during lessons, a bell rang to tell us that we had to stop what were were doing and had to read our books for 10 minutes. There was complete silence in the Year 4 corridor at this time as we all dived into our books! We loved looking around and buying books from the book fair and we all made a bookmark so we won’t lose our place when reading. Thank you to all the English department for organising such a fun day. Thank you to all the parents for your help in providing brilliant costumes for the children for the day.

Year 4 Science

As part of their Science lessons, Year 4 carried out a starch experiment.

We have been researching the types of food needed for a healthy diet and as part of this the children tested bread and lettuce to see which contained starch and therefore belonged to the carbohydrate food group. They added iodine to see which food changed colour thus showing it contained starch. The experiment was lots of fun!

4B Forest School

In forest school this week, 4B learned about tying different knots. There were so many amazing ‘YES!’ moments when after lots of perseverance, we achieved one of the new knots! Take a look at some photos of our amazing teepee for a woodland animal.

Year 4 English

Year 4 have really enjoyed working on our Poetry Topic for the last two weeks. We have worked in groups and pairs and recited poems. We have also written our own poems as a class and individually. Year 4 wrote their own poems inspired by James Carter’s poem ‘What Stars Are’, they wrote their own ‘What the Moon is’. We hope you enjoy reading them.

We have really enjoyed meeting you all at our Parents’ Evenings over the last two weeks. Thank you all for your continued support.

Have a super weekend!

The Year 4 Team

House Music Composition Competition

Year 4 have been composing music, inspired by the planets. They have used class instruments including glockenspiels, xylophones, hand percussion as well as pianos and the pupils’ own instruments. Mrs Lodge and Mrs Jarvis have a huge job going through the entries this weekend. Results will be announced next Friday – good luck!

This week in Year 5

French Lessons

5CB and 5B were very lucky last week and this week to have been taught a lesson by 5CB’s very own native French speaker, Clara Stacey.

Clara’s lesson started with a wonderful game of animal charades. The children took it in turns to think of an animal and act it out. The other children had to guess the animal and say the word correctly in French. Clara was a stickler for pronunciation! Then they went out on to play a ‘find the animal’ game in two teams. Clara was so encouraging, and they all loved the competitive nature of this game. Next up was animal bingo, and by the end of this game, it was clear that Clara had worked her magic in getting them to remember lots of animal words, including ‘un kangourou’ and ‘un koala’.

The second half of Clara’s lesson focused on revising the rooms of the house, which is our topic for this term. Clara gave the children a match-up writing task and explained very clearly exactly what to do. She also gave them some little clues as to how to work out which room was which. They then had to categorise the words into masculin, féminin and pluriel. Whilst the children were finishing off their sheets, two children from each table came up to the front to play ‘un jeu de mémoire’, which once again gave them a chance to practise their pronunciation.

Here are few quotes from the 5CB and 5B children about how much they enjoyed Mademoiselle Stacey’s lesson:

Olivia S: Clara was really kind and we played lots of games.

George M: I enjoyed the games and we got to do so much in one lesson. It was FUN too!

Lilly B: Clara’s lesson was interactive and competitive.

Chloe L-B: The lesson was amazing. I loved that Clara played lots of games. I learnt how to say ‘cow’ in French.

Theodora K: I LOVED Clara’s lesson because it was a nice surprise. It was SUPER fun and she was very clear.

Jamie: Clara’s lesson was so fun. I loved it when we won the memory game.

Ismail: Clara’s lesson was fun because the games were fun but educational.

A quote from la professeur herself:

«C’était super de faire une leçon pour 5CB et 5B le lundi et le jeudi dernier! Les jeux étaient très compétitifs et tout le monde a écouté et a participé. Moi et Mademoiselle Burton ne les avons guère aidé parce que tout le monde connait les mots pour les animaux et les pièces de la maison. C’était super d’être la maîtresse pour la leçon.»

“It was really fun doing a lesson for 5CB and 5B on Monday and last Thursday! The games were very competitive and everyone listened and joined in. Miss Burton and I barely needed to helped because everyone really knew their animals and the rooms of the house. I really enjoyed teaching them!”

5D and 5K have been learning how to describe their house and where they live. Playing ‘Au voleur’, the pupils had great fun copying three sentences from the board and then, after a quick round of ‘Pierre, Feuille, Ciseaux’, trying to steal them from their classmates. Mr King saw lots of pupils confidently practising their French with some wonderful accents. Fantastique!

Wishing you all a warm and relaxing weekend,

The Year 5 Team

House Music Composition Competition

Year 5 have been composing music, inspired by battles.They have been enjoying working with GarageBand in our MacSuite. Mrs Lodge and Mrs Jarvis have a huge job going through the entries this weekend. Results will be announced next Friday – good luck!

Head’s Commendations

Congratulations to this week’s recipients of Mrs Cussans’ Commendations:

	Nurture	Inspire	Engage
Year 3	Charlie H, Tallulah H	Eileeyah N, Miles D	Lela J, Arthur L, Ade O, Sofia V
Year 4	Idris C, Bo H, Annie J	-	Jacob T
Year 5	-	Clara S, William F	-

From the Middle Department Library

Moonflight by Gill Lewis

Moonflight follows sibling rats, Tilbury & Nimble-Quick Twitch-Whiskers, as they embark on the adventure of a life-time.

Tilbury is fascinated by flight and flying, so is determined to find the lost plans to the Silk Wing, a legendary flying machine invented by a famous rat, the Great Bartholomew. At the same time, the dark forces are rising and the Elders must find the chosen one to return the black diamond, aka the Cursed Night, to its rightful owners.

Folklore suggests that the diamond is cursed, able to reach the darkest depths of the soul – only a rat of integrity and ingenuity can unravel its secrets.